The Effect of a Merchandising Strategy on Your SEO Performance
While optimising their online store for SEO performance, entrepreneurs may find that their products and services are not at the centre of SEO improvement plans. The SEO collaboration may have more to do with the diverse requirements of your e-commerce platform rather than just your product range. As a result, there may be a dichotomy between SEO performance and merchandising strategy. Here are the reasons you should fully illustrate your merchandising policy.
Inventory Issues
Though most entrepreneurs may not realise it, SEO is more strongly related to inventory management than we think. Stock fulfilment can become a severe issue since many companies do not have a live inventory system that updates stock levels in real-time. One such problem is overselling merchandise. It may not appear to have a direct effect on SEO, but on looking deeper, it does have indirect but serious repercussions. With overselling, you may have to refund orders that you cannot fulfil. This leads to poor customer experience. Not being able to fulfil your order on time may be a big letdown for customers, especially when they have trusted you to deliver the product on time. Disgruntled customers may then vent their grievances on Google reviews and consumer review websites. A few unfulfilled orders can create a serious PR crisis. Negative reviews on Google and consumer websites are a serious blow to SEO since Google’s algorithm takes strong notice of critical reviews.
Wrong Stoc0k Status on SERPS
Many brands indicate their stock status directly on SERPs. When your product is listed SERPs, there may be a little phrase that reads ‘in stock’ or ‘out of stock.’ This schema markup is great for customer experience since consumers do not have to enter your website to check if your product is currently available. Serious problems can occur if your backend system is not correctly updating the inventory status. The stock status on SERPs may be wrong. For instance, your product may be out of stock, but since there was no update, the SERPs display ‘in stock’ under your product name. The SEO problem mentioned previously can then transpire. Your SEO can take a big hit with negative reviews arising out of unfulfilled orders.
Endless Sales and Promotions
The frequency of your promotions and sales can have a strong impact on SEO as well. As a savvy entrepreneur, you certainly understand the value of good deals and bargains. However, too much of a good thing may be bad. It is also the same thing with sales and promotions. One key purpose of promotions is to pique interest and create a sense of urgency. Too many promotions will create neither interest nor urgency. Customers will know that there will be other sales promotion soon, so why bother? Your e-commerce website traffic may fall because customers know that they can return any time they like to find a sales promotion. During the times that you don’t have any promotion, there will also be less traffic and sales because customers are aware that they can wait a little longer to purchase at lower prices. You should, therefore, consider the possible impact that your merchandising strategy can have on your SEO performance. Read the full article